Call me mini-martha!

I’ve held that title for a few years now, but I’m growing more into it as time passes!

Recently I’ve gotten into getting good deals on groceries and storing them.

I started with garlic – 1 was able to buy a 10 pack of heads for 1.99. Pretty good deal eh?

So then I figured since I get minced garlic in a glass container at the grocery store for a heck of a lot more than that how hard could it be. Well, let me tell you, you as a mere mortal cannot make that same thing at home! It turns out that since garlic grows in the ground if you store in anarobically – aka – without oxygen – it will produce a very toxic chemical that could kill you – who knew?  Apparently lots of people on the net! So onto plan B! Turns out freezing is the best option! I found a couple different ways – first off was just plain freeze the minced (flat) and break off a chunk when you need it. Cool. The other option I found was to mince it with olive oil and freeze that flat! Then again break off a chunk when you need it. Super duper cool! Who doesn’t like their garlic heated in olive oil! Mmmm! So far it has worked like a charm! I have 4 bags in my freezer for use throughout the winter! Yeah!

Next were strawberries! On my new meal plan I have cereal (Cheerios or Total) with either strawberries or blueberries. Mmmmm. My new slice of heaven! Since the summer is coming to a close and our other use for strawberries is Gelato I picked up 2 vats at Costco. I know it’s not local, but it’s a great deal!  I brought it home in a re-usable sack, doesn’t that count for something? Anyhoo, I digress…  So I cleaned, de-stemmed, and sliced the ton of strawberries! Then I put them individually on cutting boards and cookie sheets and into the freezer. Then after they were little ice cubes I bagged some, and food savered some others! I’ll be living large in strawberries for a couple months, I’m sure!

My next adventure was with a bag-o-lemons. My newest thing is to cut them into slices, freeze them, and then use them as little ice cubes in my water. Makes me feel all special and the water more appealing to drink! Woohoo! Well a bag of lemons from Costco is not a small matter! It was about 10-12. And not the little guys you see at the grocery store, these things were enormous! I managed to cut about 4 and had both freezers full of segregated lemon slices all individually freezing away! With 6 left I again consulted the net to figure out if I could save the juice somehow. We use lemon juice a lot! A lot!

Turns out the best way is an ice cube tray! Cool! I don’t have one of those but I do have a million midgets from Tupperware! I can do this! Then I was reading that you could zest these little puppies and have zest in the freezer for future use! Since we usually skip that step in any recipe and I had 6 lemons that were about to be squeezed, why not! So I now have more zest than any one person should have on hand! I have 3 snack baggies full in the freezer! So after that I finally got the kitchen aid with its juicer attachment out and went to town! Hubby thought I was running the disposal with no water it was making such a racket! I managed to get just under 1.5 cups of juice! Which as I was just about to populate my freezer with midgets of lemon juice, hubby says – how bout some lemon gelato? Back to the net…  Well real lemon gelato is not healthy nor does it use very much lemon juice. Onto cooking light where I found a nice and easy recipe for Lemon Sorbet. Sugar, water, lemon.  Turned out pretty good. Never solidified in the ice cream maker, but after some time in the freezer and then a small melting time on the counter it was pretty tasty. Give it a go – you don’t even need the ice cream maker!

Prior to all this I started freezing egg yolks! So many recipes call for either the white or the yellow…  So when I have some yolks, I get out my trusty midgets and store them in the freezer! Freaks out hubby – seeing all the little yellow frozen balls in there!

We’ll see what the rest of the summer bring me. I alsofreeze peppers too! Slice, freeze and when you need those little yummies in thewinter for a stir fry or baked dish, you are all set!

Got any other secrets of food storage you want to share with me?